


If I Die Young.

by meIiorism



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Heartbreaking, Hurt Tony Stark, Songfic, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Yikers, that ending was so shit, this was a mess, why did i think this was a good idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 20:50:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16456991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meIiorism/pseuds/meIiorism
Summary: If I die young bury me in satin.Lay me down on a bed of roses,Sink me in the river at dawn,Send me away with the words of a love song.The sharp knife of a short life,Well I've had just enough time.





	If I Die Young.

**Author's Note:**

> i,, im so r r y

⠀⠀The spot, _that god-awful spot_ , that Peter Parker once laid was now tainted with a horrible, horrible, ash. The particles slowly drifted away with the shallow air currents of the planet Tony Stark now regrets even  _touching_. Memories flash before his eyes as he doubles over  .  .  .  With a hand clutched to his lower abdomen, years of repressed tears surface. Yet they don't spill.

 

**If I die young, bury me in satin  .  .  .**

 

⠀⠀"Hey, Mr Stark?" Peter had once asked his mentor while they were watching a movie. It was one of two of Peter's weekends spent at the compound, and they were alone for the time being ( Pepper had gone out for last-minute meetings, Vision was  .  .  .  somewhere ( yes, okay, they'll admit it: they lost Vision. ), and Rhodey rarely shows. ), so, naturally, they were using this to their advantage.

⠀⠀Tony, barely lifting his eyes from the movie on the screen, replied with a careless, "yeah, kid?"

⠀⠀Peter's eyes were trained on Tony, the film suddenly removing itself from existence. It was like he was the only person in the world that mattered —— like he was the only person in the world that existed. Bony digits dance along his fabric-clad leg in an attempt to distract him from the nerves that clawed at his throat. "What — what if something, something big, happens to me?" The voice that is produced was small, so small that, if it wasn't for how close together they were bunched, Tony feared he might have missed the words.

⠀⠀And now Tony was staring at Peter, a feeling that the former didn't recognise eating away at him. The question had caught him off guard. "Peter, I  _promise_ that, as long as I'm breathing,  _nothing_  like that will _ever_ happen to you." He forced himself to not let his vocals crack; he didn't need Peter seeing a shit storm of emotions. The thing that caught Peter off guard was the hug Tony had launched on him. The older felt the younger nod and pull himself further into the embrace  .  .  .  they were finally  _there_.

⠀⠀However much Stark had tried to convince himself that the words were the kid and not him, the burning dread in the pit of his stomach repeatedly refused. Even days later. Could Tony Stark really protect Peter Parker from whatever the universe had in store for them?

  
**.  .  .  Lay me down on a bed of roses  .  .  .**

 

⠀⠀Tony  _knew_. He  _knew_ something was coming, he could  _feel_ it. Why he didn't try and convince Peter to stop with his spiderling ways is beyond him. A damn  _fucking_ fool, he was. Maybe if he had tried to stop the kid ( for good, this time. ), he wouldn't be hunched over the pile of ebony particles like his life depended on them. And that's when it all suddenly dropped into place; why Peter had been mumbling lyrics ( .  .  .  _well I've had just enough time_   .  .  . ) to himself, to a song he was sure Peter didn't know the artist of, at three in the morning after he woke up from a Toomes-induced nightmare. 

⠀⠀He should've  _fucking_ realised. Peter had known as well that something big, something that they couldn't handle alone, was coming. Maybe that was why he had been so adamant to try and get the Avengers back together, not because they were his childhood heroes, but because Earth was completely fucked without them. Maybe that was why he had refused to give up Spider-Man because he needed something to remove the reveries of impending doom from his already crumpled and overly-worked mind.

 

**.  .  .  Sink me in the river, at dawn  .  .  .**

 

⠀⠀And now, here's Tony Stark, arched over the rock that  _his kid_ had last touched. Quivering lips were tightly held between two rows of pearls, the biting hard enough to draw blood. Tony had lost many things in life, but nothing hit him quite as hard as this did. The tears still refused to slip; he willed them too with great might, he needed to express this great pang of grief with  _something_ , but they would not move. Sure, they clogged up his vision with a great malice; and, sure, they caused whisky irises to tint red, but they  _refused_ to shift from their glazing position.

⠀⠀He would have dropped everything just to make sure Peter Parker was okay. To make sure the bullies never got into his head of perfect benevolence ( Tony would not be surprised if Peter could lift Thor's hammer. ). To make sure him and Aunt May were doing okay. To make sure he was eating. To make sure he was being a kid. To make sure he was having fun. He would drop the world if it meant Peter would smile.

⠀⠀But now  .  .  .  he may never see that smile again.

 

**  
**.  .  .  Send me away with the words of a love song.** **

 

⠀⠀Now the tears were falling. Falling doesn't even begin to describe it. The streams were chaotic and they glistened in the disgusting light of the new day in their new universe. They wouldn't stop falling, and that's when a sob fell through his lips. The sounds became sporadic and so  _raw_. Each vulnerable noise sent a shudder through his body while fingers began to dangerously wander across the spot,  _the god-awful spot_ , that Peter Parker had taken his last breaths.

⠀⠀The feeling of Peter's broken gazes ghosted his skin. So aware as the sobbing subsided; the sobbing was replaced with something else. Something Peter might have enjoyed. Tony's irregular breaths stayed just that, irregular, while he wracked the genius mind of his for the wo——  _aha!_

 

⠀⠀"Life ain't always what you think it oughta be, no," the lyrics were all but muttered, and softly at that. "Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby." And  _goddamnit_ , there's the next wave of tears. Peter was  _so_ fucking young. He did not deserve the weight of the world on his shoulders, but the kid  _couldn't stay away_. There's not a bad bone in that kid's body.

⠀⠀"The sharp knife of a short life," Again, soft words in between sharp breaths. Peter had led such a short, short life. So damn innocent and naive for his generation, all the while being too smart for his generation. Tony often forgot just how young Peter had been  .  .  .  but now he'll  _never_ forget. He doesn't acknowledge the last words, as Peter  _hadn't_ had enough time. So many unfulfilled days, all because of Tony fucking Stark. 

⠀⠀He's left to nothing but his thoughts, a pile of almost-gone dust and his silent sobs. No kid in sight, and it was  _his fault. His fault._

 

 

**.  .  .  The sharp knife of a short life  .  .  .**

 

 

**.  .  .  Well, I've had just enough time.**

 

 

⠀⠀There's one thing that, in this moment of complete grief, Tony Stark knew for certain: Peter Parker  _had not_ had enough time on this sorrow-filled Earth.


End file.
